Life in the Fast Lane

Wow! I unplugged for a week and a half. Never thought I'd do that. But I realized I've become too much of a recluse. I used to be extremely social. Now, I just like to hole up at home all day. The Internet is like an IV attached to my arm, a chemical drip seeping into my blood and sustaining my existence. One day, I just woke up and yanked it from my vein. And it felt great.

Things I discovered while I was away from my computer:

1) If you want people to buy the sequel, don't properly end the first book

Stieg Larsson trapped me into buying The Girl Who Played with Fire because he abruptly shut down The Girl with the DragonTattoo leaving several things unresolved. I had no choice but to pick up the follow up book so I could see how the first story ended. He might as well have cut things off mid-sentence. (By the way, that sneaky bastard does it again in book 2, so it's pretty obvious what I'll be ordering in May)

2) Life is very full without Boggle.

Friends, family, snow, wine, books, and an occasional movie can keep a person adequately entertained without Facebook Scramble.

3) If you want to bet on a football game, just ask my son who is routing for and put your money on the other team.

Poor little guy. He was a Giants fan, but switched over to Jets for the play offs. When they lost, he picked the Vikings, a sure favorite. When they lost, he chose the record-setting Colts. When they lost, he lost it. How much can a four year old take?

Anyway, I am back online and will visit all your blogs soon! But I'm going to try to strike a better balance in my life. I need to venture out more. I need to live life in the fast lane.

TIP from a 5-year-old

I've been kind of quiet lately in the blogosphere. Why is that?

Is it because (A) I have realized that I blog to the detriment of my writing and have decided to focus my efforts on manuscripts this month instead?

Is it because (B) my Scramble habit has returned (but I've been too embarrassed to admit it?)

Is it because (C) I have a secret and I'm scared if I blog, it will slip out, the same way I accidentally told my college roommate who her Secret Santa was?

If you guess D, all of the above, you'd be correct.

There are some things going on that I can't talk about, but there are plenty of things I can talk about. So, I will choose a safe topic. Writing tips. When my five year old blogs, she dictates and I type. Every few words, she says, "Read me what I have so far." This cracks me up. She's only in kindergarten, but she already knows that her words have to "sound good."

ME: You have "I asked my mommy to sign me up for gymnastics because I thought it would be really fun. But then I discovered that some moves hurt me and I didn't like class. One day I came and I started to cry. I wanted to go home. A nice assistant named Alex helped me out, and then I discovered something new. Class could be really fun if I just give it a chance!"

JORDAN: I said discovered too many times. Change the second one to noticed.

What's interesting is that Jordan can read perfectly well by herself. But she doesn't feel she can adequately "listen" while she is reading. She needs me to read it so she can focus completely on how her words sound.

So, here is my tip. Ask someone else to read your work aloud.

Do they stumble or trip anywhere. Are there words you repeated by accident. Is your dialogue natural? Do your transitions flow?

You may discover something you hadn't noticed before! :)

Jill Myles- To Sequel or Not to Sequel

I think as writers we all dream that our book will turn into a series. Am I right? Well, for Jill Myles the dream has come true.

We get to take a behind-the-scenes look at how Jill's debut book became the first of many in THE SUCCUBUS DIARIES.

Jill, welcome. Can you give us a time line of when you wrote books 1, 2, and 3 and when you got offers on them?

Book 1, GENTLEMEN PREFER SUCCUBI, was conceived and written in 2005. I cleaned it up, shopped it around and got an agent in early 2006. From that point on, it was a waiting game. 2006 was probably the longest, most angst-riddled year of my life up to that point. It paid off, though - in early 2007, we got an offer on Book 1, and the publisher wanted to know if it was a series. At this point, I'd never written a sequel, though I had ideas for further adventures involving the same characters. My agent suggested that I put together some ideas for Book 2, so I wrote one paragraph and sent it off to her. She came back to me and asked for a real live outline. Oops! Who knew. ;)

NOTE: I am embarrassed to admit that I wasn't familiar with the term "pantser," so I had to look it up. Apparently, there are plotters and pantsers. Plotters outline. Pantsers have no plan. They write by the seat of their pants.

Go on, Jill.

At that point, it was a little trickier for me to come up with a plot concept - I had given my agent the high level pitch, but to actually think the story out was a lot trickier. I'm very much a pantser, so this was a new concept to me. It took a few rounds of discussion and writing out ideas, but I eventually came up with a one page outline for book 2 (a whole page!) and we sent it off to the publisher, who accepted it.

My book got pushed out to 2010 (due to a format change) so the rest of 2007 and most of 2008 involved a lot of waiting. I wrote book 2, SUCCUBI LIKE IT HOT, turned it in, and waited and waited and waited. My book finally came up on the schedule in early 2009, so I spent most of the last year doing revisions and copyedits and galleys for both books in a row, as well as prepping a proposal for book 3. My editor asked to see a proposal for book 3 in June or so of 2009, and we had a confirmation that they wanted it a few weeks later. I'm still writing book 3 at the moment (deadline March 1st!) so after that, I'll start thinking about book 4.

Many authors want to start writing a sequel before they have sold their first manuscript. What is your advice to them?

I think that starting a sequel before selling your first manuscript is a bad idea. I've had 3 agents and all 3 have agreed - don't write the sequel until you have a contract in hand and the OK from your editor. I've known writers that wrote a connected trilogy before finding an agent...and then the agent was not able to sell the books. At that point, you have 3 dead manuscripts on your hands instead of just one. And a lot of editors might like the writing but not necessarily the story, and will say "Got anything else for me to look at?" Book 2 of a trilogy won't cut it.

Another thing to think about - editorial input. Your editor might love book 1, and hate the concept for book 2, which means starting from scratch. When it came down to book 3 for my series, I sent a proposal to my editor - 50 pages and a lengthy synopsis. My editor then pointed out all the things she didn't like in my synopsis and wanted me to change. I rewrote it and made some suggestions on plot, and we went back and forth a few more times before cracking down on the final plot. It's easy to change mid-stream if all you have is an outline -- not so easy if you've already written the darn thing.

Wow, Jill, thank you so much!

Before you go, be sure to enter Jill's contest! Her fabulous agent, Holly Root, is offering a query critique for one lucky winner drawn at random. Leave a comment here and you'll earn one entry for the drawing. Comment at each of the other blogs on Jill's tour to earn additional entries.

Jill will pick the winner on January 27.

Sneak Peak- Jill Myles' Blog Tour

What could be more fun than a book that starts with this opening line:

It had obviously been one hell of a night if I couldn’t recall why I was waking up in a Dumpster.

Not much, I tell you! Which is why I am so excited to have paranormal author, Jill Myles, as my guest tomorrow as part of her fabulous blog tour. Not only was Jill's first book, GENTLEMEN PREFER SUCCUBI, released this month, but her second book, SUCCUBI LIKE IT HOT, was also released this month!

So, come back to tomorrow to hear Jill's answer to the question "To sequel or not to sequel?"

In the meantime, you can read chapter 1 of her book here.

And for details on how to win a Query Critique from Jill's fantastic agent, Holly Root, visit Shelli at Market My Words.

Michael Stearns- He Had Me at Hello

Okay, not sure why I am so obsessed with Michael Stearns.

1) I already have a literary agent. And a good one at that.
2) I already have a husband. No complaints about him either.

But I am totally in love with this guy's article on Agenting Picture Books.

I want to send it all my talented writer friends. Not to mention all the people out there who think that just because they were once a kid and they know how to form sentences that they are qualified to write a picture book.

Michael Stearns captures it brilliantly:

A really great picture book is a difficult art to pull off. I’m deadly serious when I use the word “art” here. That’s how I view a great picture book. It is about grace and the right words in the right place—much more akin to poetry than mere storytelling.

He goes on to explain:

It is rarely obvious in a well-written picture book draft what, exactly, is missing. The prose may read well enough, the story may have a beginning, a middle, an end. The punctuation may be in all the right places. The images called to mind may be original and fun. And yet, something about the manuscript is off. Perhaps the concept isn’t quite “there.”

So in some cases, the agent reads the manuscript, ponders it, sets it aside to marinate. Comes back to it a week later, rereads it, ponders it, makes a few notes. Keeps doing this until something unlocks. Because seeing the “fix” that will give a good manuscript heart, or finding a way to cut out half the words without cutting out the soul of the story—is hard work.

So, if you don't LOVE picture books. If you don't enter a bookstore and head directly to the PB section (without your kids). If you don't feel like you are destined to write them and no other career could possibly be right for you. Then stick to being a dentist. (Or a fourth grader).

Or pick a different art form.

And if you're looking for an agent (or a husband), head on over and read Michael's article in its entirety. You might fall for him, too.

At Least I Haven't Done Everything Wrong

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." — Dr. Seuss (The Lorax)

Made another donation to the Red Cross today. I hope the money keeps pouring in to Haiti.

I told Jordan all about the earthquake and how the people of Haiti desperately need food and medicine.

She ran to her wallet, and came back and handed me six dollars.

"My tooth fairy money," she said. "Give it to the earthquake people."

My sweet girl.



Isn't she fabulous?

P.S. If you or your kids read Junie B Jones, please enter Jordan's first ever Junie B blog contest.

Story of My Life (again)

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.